I did a little online "shopping" and found some things I thought would make sweet decorations for the home or even cute little Christmas gifts without breaking the bank! I have overspent for the holidays many times in the past. It's ridiculous! I sometimes wonder if the person that I bought for even remembers what they received from one Christmas to the next. It's nice to give for the holidays, but it doesn't have to be expensive and should not put you in the hole from one year to the next. It seems I no sooner get the charge card paid from last Christmas and guess what...Christmas is here again. Now I ask myself do I really want to do this again?? The answer this year is NO! Times are changing for everyone financially. This year I'm cutting back on the amount of money I spend. My children are much older, and should realize that...well....they are not little children. Or, maybe it's just the mom in me that thinks I need to shower my adult children with gifts at this special time of year because they are both single and will not have anything to open Christmas Day unless it's from me....

But as for the other people in my life that I would like to get a little something for, these are some things I have found that can be given as a small gift or added into a cute gift basket that won't break the bank! My sister-in-law makes up sweet gift baskets that I really appreciate.

Here are a few of the items I found. Maybe it will give you some ideas for decorating or gift giving.

I have a Fix-It and Forget-It cookbook, not this Christmas issue, but I love it. It's full of slow cooker recipes for all of those busy people who need a little help with supper. Lots of great recipes.

This is a lighted flicker candle that works off of batteries. I'm a big fan of battery operated candles because you can put them on shelves or anywhere that you couldn't put a real candle. I have quite a few of these kinds of candles in my home, but I also love the real scented candles. The nice thing about these are that if you forget to turn if off before you go to bed it just doesn't matter! The house won't burn down! There's also a cute Santa candle like this one.

These were some ideas that I picked for decorating or gift giving that won't cost an arm and a leg for the holidays. I need to remember that the reason for the season is not how many gifts you give or receive, or how much you spend on someone, or how elaborately decorated the home is, it's Jesus, He is the real reason we celebrate Christmas!

The weather this past week has been exceptionally hot and humid as many of you know. I thought about this song, Sleigh Ride. I knew that it had it's beginnings during a heat wave in July. I love to watch the Boston Pops Christmas concerts and this is how I heard that it was written in the middle of a heat wave. I did some checking and it was in July of 1946 that the original idea for the piece came about. It was composed by Leroy Anderson and finished in February of 1948. The orchestral version, my favorite, was recorded in 1949 by Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops Orchestra. I first saw this performed by John Williams and the Boston Pops Orchestra on television years ago. I absolutely loved it!! This song became a hit record on RCA Victor Red Seal which is a classical music label and is now part of Sony Masterworks. The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers named Sleigh Ride the most popular piece of Christmas music in the USA in 2010.

So that's a little history of one of my all time favorite Christmas songs. Here's a video from You Tube, the artist is Arthur Fiedler. If you like, watch and enjoy. The light display is pretty amazing! Pause player in left side bar if you watch. THINK COOL!!

An Advent Calendar is a special calendar that's used to countdown or celebrate the days of Advent in anticipation of Christmas. Many of these calendars take the form of a large rectangular card with "windows" of which there are often 24, one for each day in December leading up to Christmas Day. One is opened every day during Advent. Each window opens to reveal an image, a poem, or a portion of a story such as the Nativity of Jesus. Some calendars have a small gift concealed in each window such as a chocolate or candy item or a small toy.

I've searched for some Advent Calendar ideas to share and have found some very creative and unique ways to make them.

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Woohoo...it's Christmas in July starting at midnight tonight clear through Sunday night on QVC . Not sure what the TSV (Today's Special Value) will be. Shop early ladies. This is a Harry Slatkin set of 5 Holiday candles with the boxes you can purchase for $29.64 with free S&H!! This could be a small gift for 5 people on your list.

QVC (link for candles) I enjoy watching this Christmas show every year. They have so much to offer. It's nice shopping from the comfort of your own home. Beautiful candles aren't they? Slatkin candles smell so wonderful. You can also buy them from your local Bath and Body Works, but I don't think you'll find a deal like this. So.......ANE ANE TOK, here's another post from my blog you can steal. You already have just about my whole blog on yours. Read about it HERE, but if you go to check out the blog with everyone's stolen posts, you have to get past the trashy pictures (thumbnail images) at the top of the blog, scroll down and it's full of stolen blog posts.

Have a wonderful weekend and if you shop, try not to spend to much..... ;-)

UPDATE: I ordered these and they came today. As soon as I opened up the box, I could smell the spicy scents! They all smelled wonderful! Love these!

Gee....I just found at least half or 3/4's of my blog entries on someone else's blog site!! With thumbnails of trashy pictures at the top of the website to boot!! Word for word, same exact date that I posted, pictures of my tree in my house, my blog! Copy and pasted exactly as I posted them. Here's the link to this person's blog in case any of you might wonder if your blog entries are being stolen and used as someone else's. Whatever date and month & year you made your post, that's where you'll find it...if they have used yours. I've already went to some of the other blogs that the posts were from...the ones that gave me a clue as to the name of their blog...and left comments for them just so that they are aware this is happening.

http://aneanetok.blogspot.com/ should be Ane Ane Took.....If you check it out for your posts, when you click the link, sometimes it goes over to advertising and you need to just click the back button until you're there. Remember, there are trashy pictures at the top of the page, but this person is a thief of blog posts!! I reported it to blogger just for the trashy pictures, but that's all I can do.

I was going to leave a comment, but of course comments are disabled! I couldn't believe how many of my posts are there. I've been checking all morning and I'm not even finished yet. Time to quit for now. The list of posts are on the right side. They go back to 2010 and some older than that. I'm sure he/she has stolen all of the other posts that are on their site. I do have my favorite blogs listed, so they may be visiting you and copying your posts too! It's not just Christmas posts, it's a variety of everything!

I realize there isn't anything that can be done. This person clearly has no morals! Everyone does all the hard work and research and this person just comes along and copies and pastes entire posts into their blog! I bet this post won't be copied to their blog!!!

These are Macy's window displays from Christmases past. I was going to put them in my last post about Macy's at Christmas, but it would have been a really long post. I would love going to the big city to see these beautiful window displays at Christmas, and it would be perfect if it was snowing! What a dreamer!

This would be a favorite of mine! Some people hate this movie, but I love it and will never tire of it! I think if they didn't show it continually on Christmas Eve into Christmas Day, maybe people wouldn't hate it so much. You could appreciate seeing it more when it would only be televised once...at Christmas time.